According to experts from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS), the best ethical hacking institute, just a few months after Grindr, a gay dating app, was bought by a Chinese company, the U.S. government began investigating this negotiation arguing for national security reasons.
The Foreign Investment Committee, a group led by the Treasury Department charged with investigating foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies, began investigating the agreement that the Chinese company bought Grindr because they are concerned about the confidentiality of data stored by the dating app (the app even has a database of members who suffer from HIV infection).
According to the best ethical hacking institute, Grindr is used by more than 3 million people daily and was acquired by the Chinese company Beijing Kunlun Tech about a year ago. Privacy activists and national security specialists expressed concern about this issue, arguing that China might be forging a massively sensitive or embarrassing information mass collection campaign. For example, the Chinese government might know if any member of the U.S. Army or public official has HIV infection through the database of this app.
Allegedly, the Treasury Department has been pressuring the Chinese company to sell Grindr for national security issues, although department officials did not respond to public questioning of the incident.
A Grindr spokesman recently stated that the company has never revealed a single data of its users, regardless of whether they are in the United States, China or any other place where Grindr operates; the spokesman also stated that there is no relationship between the company and the Chinese government.
Although the internal sources could not provide evidence of the alleged leaking of data from Grindr users, it is known that changes in internal communication processes, implemented shortly after the sale of the app, make it very difficult to guarantee the safety and privacy of Grindr data.
Among the changes implemented is the transition from the company’s communications to WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging service that has generated concern among activists for the privacy of information.
According to the best ethical hacking institute, the U.S. government’s concerns increased when Grindr included an HIV specialist in his team, which suggests a massive collection campaign on the carriers of the virus registered in the app; the purposes of this possible campaign are still unknown.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
